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BrainMind Initiative
In September 2016 the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences was one of several co-hosts of the first ever BrainMind Summit, bringing together neuroscientists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and community stakeholders in a collaborative environment to foster innovation. In 2018, another of the co-hosts of that original event, Dr. Michael McCullough, founded the BrainMind Ecosystem, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making good on the promise of the summit according following principles:
- Create a high-consciousness community of powerful and influential people to drive a cultural shift valuing ideas principally on their potential human impact.
- Establish a roadmap for effective forward progress maximizing impact in brain science, focusing special attention on areas and ideas that are currently undersupported relative to their importance.
- Infuse these under-supported ideas with high consciousness capital, leadership, and network support to grow and scale from the lab to society.
The Department has continued to play a large role in this mission by co-hosting follow up Summits in September 2018 and Fall 2019. Additionally, faculty members represented the department at a Summit at MIT in 2019 and at numerous smaller events around the Bay Area, and planning is underway for an event at Asilomar in May 2020 focused on the ethics and regulation of biotechnology and brain science.
As the BrainMind Ecosystem continues to grow, the department marks its foundational role in this exciting endeavor through the BrainMind initiative within the department, helping to ensure that these efforts serve to advance the departments five missions for years to come.